Hello guys, since I play Saryn a lot I decided to make an advanced guide for her because I think it is not that easy to understand her strengths and weaknesses. I have also seen many people asking how to build her so I think it will help them a lot.
I think I know a thing or two about her.
While Saryn is definitely, the definition of a DPS warframe she does not have to be modded like a glass cannon. With her 300 base armor (for the prime version) she is among the tankiest warframes in the game (no, she is not Inaros, Rhino or Valkyr tanky).
Stats explanation
Duration: Not important since only Toxic Lash and Miasma scale with it.
Efficiency: Keeping it at 100% is more than enough to keep spores up.
Range: Most important stat. Having 200% or more is a must.
Strength: A good stat to have. Generally try to keep it above 100%.
Umbral Saryn Spore Build: Link
This build is what I use for general gameplay. It is capable of soloing 12 waves of ESO (yes, I do it quite often) without dying even once and sorties and arbitrations are a joke to manage.
Arcanes: 2x Arcane Guardian (Optional)
With her high armor (300 for the prime version) she can make great use of Arcane Guardian and the 2×20% chance for 600 armor is very good for survivability. Also a 4% chance for 1200 armor makes you a tanking machine even without Adaptation.
Operator arcanes: 2x Magus Elevate (Optional)
With around 1000 health having a press 5 four times and heal for 600 health (on average) is fantastic. You can use Regenerative Molt if you don’t have Magus Elevate.
Feel free to replace Umbral mods with normal ones if you don’t have them and I’d suggest Quick Thinking (or Regenerative Molt) to replace Adaptation if you can’t afford it.
Build explanation
Why build a dps warframe like a tank? The reasoning behind this is the way Saryn deals damage by sustaining spores. Enemies killed by spores do not spread them but killing infected enemies with weapons or miasma does spread them. This means that all you have to do to kill enemies is stay alive and refresh and spread spores. This is also the reason you don’t really need that much Power Strength although it does help. Just keep it above 100%. Getting to 200% for the 100% status would be nice though.
Why max range? Because the more range you have the further your spores spread. You can get away with 200% range in ESO but for general gameplay, I do recommend the max 280%. Also specifically for ESO note that Saryn is territorial and 2 Saryns override each other’s spores so usually the one with more range wins the dps race.
Adaptation with 2x Arcane Guardians make you very hard to kill unless you get reckless.
Hunter Adrenaline gives you constant energy regeneration and Magus Elevate fast instant heals for as much as you need.
I do recommend using a sentinel with Guardian (restoring 300 shields is very nice) and Medi-Ray (restores 12% health over 4 sec) to make your life easier but generally you can use whatever you like. Also Animal Instinct to know where those not infected enemies are and Primed Regen so it doesn’t die on you.
No shields for mods since shields suck.
Core Saryn (Budget) Spore Build – Link
Exilus mod can be replaced with Power drift if for some reason you think you need more Power strength.
How to play
Find an enemy and cast a spore on it, then pop it with your weapon, which spreads it to all enemies in range (that is why we want max range). Then continue to kill as you see fit. When you see yourself having over 100 energy feel free to cast Miasma to speed up the killing ( Miasma actually does 400% damage against infected enemies and also Miasma kills spread spores.). If you meet a tougher enemy you want to melt faster cast Toxic Lash to help your damage.
You don’t need to keep Toxic Lash up if you use an AOE status weapon in general.
Recommended weapons: Status weapons
The reason for this is that AOE damage makes popping spores very easy and since they are your main source of damage, you use your weapon to help with that.
I do recommend this Ignis Wraith Build – Link
Replace Vigilante Armaments with a Riven if you have one. Switch elements around as you see fit.
Note that you don’t need that much status and that’s why this build is hybrid.
Recommended Focus schools:
Zenurik is very nice with it’s energy restore and solves all of your energy problems.
Conclusion
Feel free to contact me in game if you need help or just want to see what this build can do.
PS: Thanks to everyone for pointing out how wrong my spore mechanics’ oversimplification was, I edited it to correct that.
Note: Posting this guide actually slightly improved my knowledge of Saryn’s mechanics thanks to all the comments. Goes to show you can always learn something new.
Original Link – Continuation of discussion
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